Stitches

by David Small

Overview

Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award and finalist for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards: the prize-winning children’s author depicts a childhood from hell in this searing yet redemptive graphic memoir.

One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die.

In Stitches, Small, the award-winning children’s illustrator and author, re-creates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. As the images painfully tumble out, one by one, we gain a ringside seat at a gothic family drama where David—a highly anxious yet supremely talented child—all too often became the unwitting object of his parents’ buried frustration and rage.

Believing that they were trying to do their best, David’s parents did just the reverse. Edward Small, a Detroit physician, who vented his own anger by hitting a punching bag, was convinced that he could cure his young son’s respiratory problems with heavy doses of radiation, possibly causing David’s cancer. Elizabeth, David’s mother, tyrannically stingy and excessively scolding, ran the Small household under a cone of silence where emotions, especially her own, were hidden.

Depicting this coming-of-age story with dazzling, kaleidoscopic images that turn nightmare into fairy tale, Small tells us of his journey from sickly child to cancer patient, to the troubled teen whose risky decision to run away from home at sixteen—with nothing more than the dream of becoming an artist—will resonate as the ultimate survival statement.

A silent movie masquerading as a book, Stitches renders a broken world suddenly seamless and beautiful again. Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award (Young Adult); finalist for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (Best Writer/Artist: Nonfiction; Best Reality-Based Work).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393068573
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	09/08/2009
Pages:	329
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

David Small, author of the #1 New York Times best-selling Stitches, is the recipient of the Caldecott Medal, the Christopher Medal, and the E. B. White Award. He and his wife, the writer Sarah Stewart, live in Michigan.

Reading Group Guide

1. Stitches is the story of one man's attempt to understand and reclaim his past. How is the act of remembering - and memory itself - handled in the book? Discuss the effectiveness of the transitions between the book's "chapters."

2. Early on, David Small describes how each member of his family had his or her own "language." What does each family member's language reveal about them? How does David's "language" change over the course of the book? 

3. Discuss the theme of silence. Which silences are forced, and which are self-imposed? Did you feel there were moments when Small's perceptive depictions of body language, facial expression, and suppressed emotion spoke more powerfully than words could have? What are the consequences when characters do speak up to tell the truth?

4. During the editing process, Small tried to "get rid of as many words as possible. That's what the book is about - not being able to speak feelings, and being kept silent." But he was also interested in the role language plays in a "largely wordless book." What are the repercussions of young David's use of the words ain't (p88) and crazy (p101)? Are there other highly charged words in the book? What significance do such sounds as Whap! and Kkrraackk! have in the story?

5. How would you describe the role that art and the imagination play in the book? Which images spoke most powerfully to you about the importance of art in David's life? How does young David's retreat into his imagination compare with how his parents deal with reality?

6. Discuss the significance of the fairy tales, daydreams, and nightmares that appear in the book.

7. Inconceiving of the approach he would use to tell his story, Small was inspired by favourite filmmakers who could "tell a story visually, directly, simply, and, preferably, in black and white. Colour, they knew, often confused the issue." How might your experience of reading Stitches have been different if the book was in colour? Are there particular images that could only have been drawn in black and white? Do you agree or disagree with Small's comment that colour can "confuse the issue"? Which images have stayed with you most?

8. One of Small's visual influences for Stitches were the early films of Michelangelo Antonioni, who is known for the way he uses architectural and landscape shots to reflect his characters' inner lives. What do Small's depictions of architecture and landscape reveal about his characters?

9. Stitches has been widely praised for its "cinematic" style. Consider the extended wordless sequence where young David is roaming the halls of the hospital. How does Small control the tension within and pacing of this section? How do you think a familiarity with the visual language of movies affected your reading of the book? Did Stitches call to mind other movies you have seen?

10. Small uses a variety of drawing styles throughout the book, ranging from the realistic to the cartoonish (pp68-69), to the abstract and expressive (pp180-181). How are these and other shifts in style revealing of young David's state of mind?

11. As a child, David falls in love with Alice in Wonderland - in particular, Alice's ability to travel to a magical land (p56). In the original story, it is while Alice is chasing after the White Rabbit that she unwittingly falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, an upside-down world where nonsense and confusion prevail. Consider how images of things falling and things inverted appear again and again in Stitches. What are some of the other ways in which Small alludes to Alice in Wonderland? Why do you think Small chose to portray his psychiatrist as the White Rabbit?

12. Consider the "mirrored" images that appear on the following pages: 192-193, 215-216, 294-295. How did Small's decision to pair these images together add to your appreciation of one or both of the images? Can you point to other examples of repeating images and/or scenes?

13. On p.174, there is a split image showing David and his mother as opposite sides of the same face. Discuss the significance of this image, especially in light of the dream that David has toward the end of the book.

14. The publication of Stitches has already had a profound impact on David Small's own life. After Small was encouraged to share an early copy of the book with his brother, from whom he had been estranged for many decades, the two men started talking again, brought together by a shared recognition of the troubled childhood they had both lived through. Discuss the reconciliations of a sort that occur within the book.

15. "Nobody heard her tears; the heart is a fountain of weeping water which makes no noise in the world." Why do you think Small is reminded of this line when he thinks of his mother at the end of the book?

16. What is the significance of the book's title? An earlier title for the book was Burning Down the House. What might be some of the reasons why this title was not used?

17. One early reader had this to say about the book: "If you have ever questioned whether graphic novels can be as poignant and powerful as traditional novels or memoirs, Stitches proves that they can. In fact, I don't think David Small's memoir could be told as powerfully in any other format." Do you agree or disagree? Why do you think the book has been called a "gateway book" to the graphic narrative form? Has Stitches changed the way you think of graphic narratives? Will you be recommending Stitches to friends?

Foreword

1. Stitches is the story of one man's attempt to understand and reclaim his past. How is the act of remembering - and memory itself - handled in the book? Discuss the effectiveness of the transitions between the book's "chapters."

2. Early on, David Small describes how each member of his family had his or her own "language." What does each family member's language reveal about them? How does David's "language" change over the course of the book? 

3. Discuss the theme of silence. Which silences are forced, and which are self-imposed? Did you feel there were moments when Small's perceptive depictions of body language, facial expression, and suppressed emotion spoke more powerfully than words could have? What are the consequences when characters do speak up to tell the truth?

4. During the editing process, Small tried to "get rid of as many words as possible. That's what the book is about - not being able to speak feelings, and being kept silent." But he was also interested in the role language plays in a "largely wordless book." What are the repercussions of young David's use of the words ain't (p88) and crazy (p101)? Are there other highly charged words in the book? What significance do such sounds as Whap! and Kkrraackk! have in the story?

5. How would you describe the role that art and the imagination play in the book? Which images spoke most powerfully to you about the importance of art in David's life? How does young David's retreat into his imagination compare with how his parents deal with reality?

6. Discuss the significance of the fairy tales, daydreams, and nightmares that appear in thebook.

7. In conceiving of the approach he would use to tell his story, Small was inspired by favourite filmmakers who could "tell a story visually, directly, simply, and, preferably, in black and white. Colour, they knew, often confused the issue." How might your experience of reading Stitches have been different if the book was in colour? Are there particular images that could only have been drawn in black and white? Do you agree or disagree with Small's comment that colour can "confuse the issue"? Which images have stayed with you most?

8. One of Small's visual influences for Stitches were the early films of Michelangelo Antonioni, who is known for the way he uses architectural and landscape shots to reflect his characters' inner lives. What do Small's depictions of architecture and landscape reveal about his characters?

9. Stitches has been widely praised for its "cinematic" style. Consider the extended wordless sequence where young David is roaming the halls of the hospital. How does Small control the tension within and pacing of this section? How do you think a familiarity with the visual language of movies affected your reading of the book? Did Stitches call to mind other movies you have seen?

10. Small uses a variety of drawing styles throughout the book, ranging from the realistic to the cartoonish (pp68-69), to the abstract and expressive (pp180-181). How are these and other shifts in style revealing of young David's state of mind?

11. As a child, David falls in love with Alice in Wonderland - in particular, Alice's ability to travel to a magical land (p56). In the original story, it is while Alice is chasing after the White Rabbit that she unwittingly falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, an upside-down world where nonsense and confusion prevail. Consider how images of things falling and things inverted appear again and again in Stitches. What are some of the other ways in which Small alludes to Alice in Wonderland? Why do you think Small chose to portray his psychiatrist as the White Rabbit?

12. Consider the "mirrored" images that appear on the following pages: 192-193, 215-216, 294-295. How did Small's decision to pair these images together add to your appreciation of one or both of the images? Can you point to other examples of repeating images and/or scenes?

13. On p.174, there is a split image showing David and his mother as opposite sides of the same face. Discuss the significance of this image, especially in light of the dream that David has toward the end of the book.

14. The publication of Stitches has already had a profound impact on David Small's own life. After Small was encouraged to share an early copy of the book with his brother, from whom he had been estranged for many decades, the two men started talking again, brought together by a shared recognition of the troubled childhood they had both lived through. Discuss the reconciliations of a sort that occur within the book.

15. "Nobody heard her tears; the heart is a fountain of weeping water which makes no noise in the world." Why do you think Small is reminded of this line when he thinks of his mother at the end of the book?

16. What is the significance of the book's title? An earlier title for the book was Burning Down the House. What might be some of the reasons why this title was not used?

17. One early reader had this to say about the book: "If you have ever questioned whether graphic novels can be as poignant and powerful as traditional novels or memoirs, Stitches proves that they can. In fact, I don't think David Small's memoir could be told as powerfully in any other format." Do you agree or disagree? Why do you think the book has been called a "gateway book" to the graphic narrative form? Has Stitches changed the way you think of graphic narratives? Will you be recommending Stitches to friends?

Editorial Reviews

"With its mixture of stark realism and devilish fantasy, Stitches achieves a vibrant emotionalism that’s rare in both memoirs and graphic work of this kind. It’s never sentimental, but it may well move you to tears."

Shelf Life - Entertainment Weekly - Ken Tucker

"One word. Phenomenal....If you haven’t read a graphic novel before, let this be your first. I cannot say enough about this book, which will be released in September and is something to look out for. Highly Recommended. I reluctantly give this novel 5 stars; reluctantly, only because there aren’t 6 stars to give out."

GalleyCat - Jeff Rivera

"[B]rilliant and heartbreaking.... Small's drawing is masterful and evocative, from the wet-on-wet blurs of Detroit's hellish, smoky skyline, which launches the cinematic opening montage, to the carefully drawn tubes in his mother's nose as she lies dying in the hospital toward the end of the book.... Just think of Daniel Clowes's Ghost World or Megan Kelso's Squirrel Mother or Art Spiegelman's Maus. Now, to the list of powerful works of art in this versatile medium, we can add the horrific but ultimately redemptive Stitches."

Michael Sims Book World

"David Small evokes the mad scientific world of the 1950s beautifully, a time when everyone believed that science could fix everything....Capturing body language and facial expressions subtly, Stitches becomes in Small's skillful hands a powerful story, an emotionally charged autobiography."

Robert Crumb

"David Small’s Stitches is aptly named. With surgical precision, the author pierces into the past and, with great artistry, seals the wound inflicted on a small child by cruel and unloving parents. Stitches is as intensely dramatic as a woodcut novel of the silent movie era and as fluid as a contemporary Japanese manga. It breaks new ground for graphic novels."

Françoise Mouly

"A beautifully drawn, tragicomic graphic memoir about a childhood from hell."

Newsweek

"Starred Review. Like other 'important' graphic works it seems destined to sit beside—think no less than Maus—this is a frequently disturbing, pitch-black funny, ultimately cathartic story whose full impact can only be delivered in the comics medium, which keeps it palatable as it reinforces its appalling aspects. If there’s any fight left in the argument that comics aren’t legitimate literature, this is just the thing to enlighten the naysayers."

Booklist

"Like the boy in this autobiographical novel my first reading of Stitches left me speechless. And in awe. David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem. Spare in words, painful in pictures, Small, in a style of dry menace, draws us a boy's life that you wouldn't want to live but you can't put down. From its first line four pages in, 'Mama had her little cough', we know that we are in the hands of a master."

Jules Feiffer

"Stitches is one of the most compelling books I’ve read in a long time. David Small, with his ground-breaking work, has elevated the art of the graphic novel and brought it to new creative heights."

Stan Lee

"[B]rilliant and heartbreaking.... Small's drawing is masterful and evocative, from the wet-on-wet blurs of Detroit's hellish, smoky skyline, which launches the cinematic opening montage, to the carefully drawn tubes in his mother's nose as she lies dying in the hospital toward the end of the book.... Just think of Daniel Clowes's Ghost World or Megan Kelso's Squirrel Mother or Art Spiegelman's Maus. Now, to the list of powerful works of art in this versatile medium, we can add the horrific but ultimately redemptive Stitches."

Washington Post Book World - Michael Sims

This graphic memoir by Caldecott Medal-winning children's book author/illustrator David Small is singular. So singular that we will leave its description to his fellow artist, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer: "Like the boy in this autobiographical novel my first reading of Stitches left me speechless. And in awe. David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem. Spare in words, painful in pictures, Small, in a style of dry menace, draws us a boy's life that you wouldn't want to live but you can't put down. From its first line four pages in, 'Mama had her little cough,' we know that we are in the hands of a master."

…brilliant and heartbreaking…Although the dialogue and narration are well written and moving, Small often shows us the story without a word of speech or commentary—not just for a few panels but for several pages at a time. He employs angled shots and silent montages worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. Revelations trigger haunting flashbacks in which we see an earlier scene from a new point of view. Small's drawing is masterful and evocative…think of Daniel Clowes's Ghost World or Megan Kelso's Squirrel Mother stories or Art Spiegelman's Maus. Now, to the list of powerful works of art in this versatile medium, we can add the horrific but ultimately redemptive Stitches.
—The Washington Post

Michael Sims

In this profound and moving memoir, Small, an award-winning children's book illustrator, uses his drawings to depict the consciousness of a young boy. The story starts when the narrator is six years old and follows him into adulthood, with most of the story spent during his early adolescence. The youngest member of a silent and unhappy family, David is subjected to repeated x-rays to monitor sinus problems. When he develops cancer as a result of this procedure, he is operated on without being told what is wrong with him. The operation results in the loss of his voice, cutting him off even further from the world around him. Small's black and white pen and ink drawings are endlessly perceptive as they portray the layering of dream and imagination onto the real-life experiences of the young boy. Small's intuitive morphing of images, as with the terrible postsurgery scar on the main character's throat that becomes a dark staircase climbed by his mother, provide deep emotional echoes. Some understanding is gained as family secrets are unearthed, but for the most part David fends for himself in a family that is uncommunicative to a truly ghastly degree. Small tells his story with haunting subtlety and power. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 10 Up–Small is best known for his picture-book illustration. Here he tells the decidedly grim but far from unique story of his own childhood. Many teens will identify with the rigors of growing up in a household of angry silences, selfish parents, feelings of personal weakness, and secret lives. Small shows himself to be an excellent storyteller here, developing the cast of characters as they appeared to him during this period of his life, while ending with the reminder that his parents and brother probably had very different takes on these same events. The title derives from throat surgery Small underwent at 14, which left him, for several years, literally voiceless. Both the visual and rhetorical metaphors throughout will have high appeal to teen sensibilities. The shaded artwork, composed mostly of ink washes, is both evocative and beautifully detailed. A fine example of the growing genre of graphic-novel memoirs.–Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia

School Library Journal

Emotionally raw, artistically compelling and psychologically devastating graphic memoir of childhood trauma. An award-winning illustrator of children's books (That Book Woman, 2008, etc.), Small narrates this memoir from various perspectives of his boyhood in the 1950s. He considered his radiologist father one of the "soldiers of science, and their weapon was the X-ray . . . They were miraculous wonder rays that would cure anything." Or so it seemed to a young boy who realized early on that his family was what now would be labeled "dysfunctional." His mother was cold, neurotic and acquisitive, with little love for either her spouse or their children. His older brother had little use for or contact with his younger sibling. His father was barely a presence in the household. The author was chronically ill, with treatment prescribed by his father, including X-rays. When Small was ten, he developed a growth on his neck that his parents were too preoccupied to have diagnosed, though friends of the family urged them to. It wasn't until after he turned 14 that he finally underwent surgery for what was initially considered a harmless cyst but turned out to be a cancerous tumor. A second surgery left him with only one vocal cord, all but voiceless as well as disfigured. Terse and unsentimental throughout, the narration becomes even sparer once the author loses his voice, with page after wordless page filled with stark imagery. Yet the intensity of the artistry reveals how he has been screaming inside, with nightmares that never fully abate when he is awake. Psychological therapy helps him come to terms with his condition, as does his precocious artistry. While the existence of this suggestssomewhat of a happy ending, the reader will find forgiving and forgetting as hard as the author has. Graphic narrative at its most cathartic. Author tour to New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Denver, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Mich., Kalamazoo, Mich., Boston. Agent: Holly McGhee/Pippin Properties

Kirkus Reviews

"A breathtaking, horrific, and ultimately redemptive work."

Miami Herald

"David Small’s Stitches is a master class in how to use silence, both internal and external, to convey emotion and meaning."

New York Times Book Review - Jo Ann Beard

"Small…employs angled shots and silent montages worthy of Alfred Hitchcock."

Washington Post

★ 06/01/2014
Small's powerful memoir traces his life from childhood to adulthood but focuses on his teenage years, when a growth on his neck revealed not just an illness in David but severe failings on the part of his parents. In a work that's both deeply sad and cathartic, Small's heroism resides in his role as historian of the agonies of youth. (LJ 7/09)

Library Journal